Any person who maliciously shoots at, or maliciously throws any missile at or against, any train or cars on any railroad or other transportation company or any vessel or other watercraft, or any motor vehicle or other vehicles when occupied by one or more persons, whereby the life of any person on such train, car, vessel, or other watercraft, or in such motor vehicle or other vehicle, may be put in peril, is guilty of a Class 4 felony. In the event of the death of any such person, resulting from such malicious shooting or throwing, the person so offending is guilty of murder in the second degree. However, if the homicide is willful, deliberate, and premeditated, he is guilty of murder in the first degree.
If any such act is committed unlawfully, but not maliciously, the person so offending is guilty of a Class 6 felony and, in the event of the death of any such person, resulting from such unlawful act, the person so offending is guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
If any person commits a violation of this section by maliciously or unlawfully shooting, with a firearm, at a conspicuously marked law-enforcement, fire, or emergency medical services vehicle, the sentence imposed shall include a mandatory minimum term of imprisonment of one year to be served consecutively with any other sentence.
Code 1950, § 18.1-152; 1960, c. 358; 1975, cc. 14, 15; 1990, c. 426; 2004, c. 461; 2005, c. 143; 2013, cc. 761, 774; 2015, cc. 502, 503.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
58
cases (
22 in the last 5 years), 1977–2026 · leading case:
Willis v. Commonwealth, 393 S.E.2d 405 (Va. Ct. App. 1990).
Willis v. Commonwealth, 393 S.E.2d 405 (Va. Ct. App. 1990).
· cites it 60× “Jimmy Craig Willis was convicted of second degree murder in violation of Code § 18.2-154 for maliciously shooting into an occupied motor vehicle which resulted in the death of the driver, sixteen year old Billy Stewart.”
Commonwealth v. Gregg, 811 S.E.2d 254 (Va. 2018).
· cites it 30× “McCULLOUGH **295 *256 Carroll Edward Gregg was convicted of common law involuntary manslaughter as well as involuntary manslaughter under Code § 18.2-154. In a published opinion, the Court of Appeals of Virginia concluded that Gregg could not be sentenced for both offenses.”
Carroll Edward Gregg, Jr. v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 796 S.E.2d 447 (Va. Ct. App. 2017).
· cites it 54× “(“appellant”) was convicted of common law involuntary manslaughter and involuntary manslaughter in violation of Code § 18.2-154, or “unlawfully shooting at an occupied vehicle wherein death resulted.”
Robert Lee Jones v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 808 S.E.2d 220 (Va. Ct. App. 2017).
· cites it 42× “Robert Lee Jones appeals his conviction for maliciously shooting at an occupied vehicle in violation of Code § 18.2-154. He argues that the Commonwealth failed to prove that he shot “at” an automobile within the meaning of the statute because he was inside that vehicle at the…”
Armstead v. Commonwealth, 685 S.E.2d 876 (Va. Ct. App. 2009).
· cites it 20× “Kevin Lamont Armstead (appellant) appeals his conviction for unlawful shooting at an occupied vehicle, in violation of Code § 18.2-154. Appellant contends that double jeopardy bars his conviction, because he was previously tried and convicted of assault, arising out of the same…”
Stephens v. Commonwealth, 557 S.E.2d 227 (Va. 2002).
· cites it 8× “Alphonso Stephens was tried by a jury in the County of Pittsylvania for two counts of shooting at an occupied vehicle in violation of Code § 18.2-154, and two counts of discharging a firearm while in a motor vehicle in violation of Code § 18.”
Com. v. Hilliard, 613 S.E.2d 579 (Va. 2005).
· cites it 4× “1; maliciously shooting into an occupied vehicle, in violation of Code § 18.2-154; and discharging a firearm within 1,000 feet of a school, in violation of Code § 18.”
Lamont Anthony Woods v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 782 S.E.2d 613 (Va. Ct. App. 2016).
· cites it 2× “Appellant was also convicted of maliciously shooting into an occupied motor vehicle in violation of Code § 18.2-154, use of a firearm in commission of a murder in violation of Code § 18.”
Hilliard v. Commonwealth, 601 S.E.2d 652 (Va. Ct. App. 2004).
· cites it 8× “1), maliciously shooting into an occupied vehicle (in violation of Code § 18.2-154), and discharging a firearm on or within 1000 feet of school property (in violation of Code § 18.”
Stephens v. Commonwealth, 543 S.E.2d 609 (Va. Ct. App. 2001).
· cites it 6× “Appellant, Aphonso Stephens, was convicted by a jury of two counts of maliciously shooting at an occupied motor vehicle whereby the life of a person in the vehicle may be put in peril, in violation of Code § 18.2-154, and two counts of intentionally discharging a firearm from a…”
Tina Marie Bryant v. Commonwealth of Virginia, 798 S.E.2d 459 (Va. Ct. App. 2017).
· cites it 2× “2-279, the Commonwealth must prove that the appellant acted in reckless disregard for the safety of others. Further supporting this conclusion is the statute’s differentiation between “maliciously” and “unlawfully.”
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